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Retro Roll: 1968 USBC Masters

February 18, 2011

By the time USBC Hall of Famer Buzz Fazio found himself a frame away from winning another Masters title in 1968 at 60 years old, the "Little Basilino" once described as "too small to take the pounding" of the football career he once pursued had gained a reputation as the "swarthy little grandfather" who didn't have any quit in him. Fans knew him as the wildly eccentric competitor who leaped and clicked his heels in the air as he converted two 7-10 splits on the way to winning a 1955 Masters title described as "the greatest individual triumph of Fazio's long career."

By 1968, more than a decade removed from that Masters win in '55, Buzz was back and on the verge of becoming the oldest player ever to win the Masters. Fazio battled fellow Hall of Famer Pete Tountas down to the last frame of the final game, when he stood two strikes away from winning another major title.Click the video below to get a glimpse of one of the most flamboyant performers in the history of the sport, as Fazio's kneeling prayers and belly flops at the foul line factor as heavily into his repertoire at 60 years old as ever before.